2016 Calgary Stampede - Winner of the World Championship Six Horse Hitch Competition

2016 World Champion Six Horse Hitch
Photo:  Show Champions

Today was the final day of the Heavy Horse Show at the 2016 Calgary Stampede.  Brian and Colleen Coleman of Eaglesfield Percherons presented the Mark Messenger Memorial Hitch of Cheyenne, Wyoming.  The Eaglesfield Percheron crew brings the Messenger hitch first place wins in Percheron Team, Percheron Unicorn, Four and Six Horse Hitch, and the World Championship Six Horse Hitch Championship.  This year was Coleman's seventh World Championship win. 

Click Photo Above ~ Stampede Blog, Madeline Babinec

We thank the crew for all their efforts, and the Messenger family for entrusting us with their talented and hard working Percherons as the 2016 show season launches in Canada.

2016 Championship Buckle

Last year, the Calgary Stampede interviewed Brian for their blog as to what it takes to prepare a hitch for competition.  That interview can be read by clicking the working horses below.

Getting Work Done While Working Together
Photo:  J Ann Brodland

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Pas De Deux De L'Attelage!

A pas de deux can either be a ballet or equestrian performance of two people or two horses.  The horses perform dressage movements, mirroring each other, which is almost always accompanied by music.  If you have ever attended an exhibition by the Spanish Riding School, a high level dressage competition, or a Cavalia performance, you have witnessed the pas de deux. 

At the Calgary Stampede Heavy Horse Show, with the Calgary Philharmonic's accompaniment, spectators were able to witness pas de deux de l'attelage (in hitch).  Guy and Pride (above) are our leaders who were captured by photographer, J. Ann Brodland, performing in sync.  We share with you this example of what judges want to see in hitch competition -- closely matched horses in size and shape, who work together tirelessly in unison.

To emphasize the mirror image performance in dressage, World Champions Andreas Helgstrand and Jan Brink perform in pas de deux at the World Cup Show in Denmark in 2007.  While watching the video above, keep in mind that these gentlemen ride horses they had never before seen nor ridden.

Echos of a Show Season

Which horse and which hoof will it wear?

In which class will it be churning the soil?

Will it take that hoof for a win?

Collecting dust will be short-lived

as this shoe will soon be wearing another horse.

Prose & Photo Credits:  J. Ann Brodland

.•°*”˜☆˜”*°•.˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙.•°*”˜☆˜”*°•.

Calgary Stampede Press Release: Eaglesfield Percherons Earn Six Horse Hitch Title Number Five with Thiel Hitch

(Click Above for Calgary Stampede's Formal Press Release of July 6, 2014)

Gentle Giants $100,000 Invitational Competition - Are You Ready to Rumble?

In anticipation for this weekend's RFD-TV's Gentle Giants $100,000 Invitational Competition being  held in Mesquite, Texas, we share with you one of our favorite videos of the North American Six Horse Hitch Classic Series.  This fast-paced slide-show features six horse hitches in competition over the past two years.  Photojournalist J. Ann Brodland has captured this sport's intensity, and its people -- some of whom have been walking in the footsteps of generations before them -- proudly carrying on and paving the way for generations to come.

We hope that you enjoy!